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Topic: Iceland entry (Read 4538 times)

O.K. finally got one I'm happy with. I'm not a big fan of this idea of pre-submitting entries, but if it encourages others to show their work or even to consider entering then here goes. This has been in the making for a good month or more so I doubt I'll make a lot of changes, this being about the 25th version. But I'll see, comments good and bad welcome.The gulls are Dunes from NWDA.

Terrific scene and very nice color scheme. A worthy entry, IMO. I like it, thanks for showing But, as said in another thread; C&C just might yield some improvements. I do have some comments, whether you like to hear them or not, and it's up to you to do something with it.The snow is very bleached, I would try the setup that has been around for ages, the Old Snow and Ice, which has some more bluish colors. Some subtle dirt on old snow is also an idea.And I would make the FOV a bit wider, it's kind of narrow.And I would perhaps give the voronoi cracks a little (fractal) warp, and different sizes.

mmmm.... Thanks for the comments guys!Lots to think about, some trivial, some significant.@Dune: I agree with the snow colour and the voronoi cracks. A warp is possible with the cracks but a variety of sizes has proved difficult already (used two sizes merged and didn't get the desired effect).As for the aspect size...well... i'm quite happy with the fov as it is really, and changing it would be a pain in the arse to still capture the elements as they currently are.As for the far ground being boring..well nature can be like that.I still find it odd that people who could be judging this can offer comments and suggestions to "improve" the image. It almost makes it compulsory to amend it to seek approval. Still I might still do no further changes. We'll see!

I guess that's always the problem with a competition. What do the judges want to see? What's going to make them take notice of my work? Should I do what I want or should I play to what I think others want to see?

I've been a little hesitant to comment on work for this competition as I really don't want to steer people in one direction or another so I tend to keep my crits short and more to an overall sense how I feel about it globally, but I will say what I'm looking for on all entries, and that's a keen attention to detail, good composition, a high degree of realism, capturing the essence of the objective of the effort, which is Iceland, telling a story with the image, and of course a good sense that the artist knows and understands how to use TG to do all this.

If you like your aspect, keep it. It's not like there isn't a huge body of existing work out there that uses a square aspect ratio. I'm more interested in how the elements in that aspect play against and balance each other. I'm more interested how the color hues all work together. I want to view an entry and be dazzled with the idea that I'm looking at something that I know is a render but wow, it really looks like a beautifully composed photograph, one that a landscape photographer spent time scouting out, carefully composed the shot, and then waited until the exact right time of day to fire off the shot. That's what gets me excited about this.

I will say on a detail level, and it seems that you already agree with it, that Dune's comment about the clipping snow highlights should be addressed. In general it's best if you can represent the total tonal range of a render without a lot of clipping as it tends to make something look like it was photographed with a cheap digital camera. I've spent lots of time in CG trying to avoid these occurrences and you'll likely have to address it in post to some degree. I see it in a lot of renders, including my own and it always bugs me.

Well, it's not the World Cup you're competing for, so a little crits and suggestions won't be that bad, I'd say. If you all want, I'll shut up, no big deal. But I treat everybody the same, and I am only one of many judges.

What is different about this contest than the last? There wasn't any of the conspiracy theory crap...........it was people having a good time and learning in the process. That is what this contest needs to be. I for one enjoy the suggestions, critiques and whatever else gets put out there. But that's me............I try to be positive about everything.

@ gregtee: thanks for the comments, you make a lot of sense - much appreciated.

@ Dune: your comments are always welcome and I will take up some of them. It might not be the World Cup we're competing for but the prizes do add up to over $5500.00, so I for one am taking it seriously and having fun at the same time.Your football connection reminds me of a quote from Bill Shankley one time manager of a very successful Liverpool side who said to a reporter "Some people think that football is a matter of life or death, but you and I know it's far more important than that!"

@ yossam: This contest is no different to the last, I just didn't take part in it. No one mentioned a conspiracy theory. I just said I find it odd that people who could be judging can offer comments and suggestions to improve an image. I don't know of any other competition that does that. I wonder how many other entries there will be that just appear at the last minute on the NWDA site?I suspect there'll be a few after all only a handful have shown their hands so far.

I think its like Oshyan said. He wondered why everyone is so strict about following normal rules, (Im paraphrasing). But I think its just that. We are all so used to strict rules that a more free environment seems strange.

At least I realized that was what it was for me. Just not used to more open ways of doing things. Once I thought about that I was fine. Thats just me though.

Besides guys, remember that last time a lot of people showed up in the last weeks too! There will be more I am betting. The prizes are great! And the advise people are getting seems good. So?